A Hell of a Business
by lannerz
Summary: (Modern AU, ASOIAF/Constantine crossover) Arya's got the talent and the history of a great demon expert, but John Constantine is not in the mood.


**Author's Notes:** How I made this possible or was able to write this, I've no idea. In the spirit of things, I was probably drunk. I'm really excited for the Constantine TV show to come out this fall though.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Other people own things.

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**A Hell of a Business**

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Ok, so it goes a little like this.

Arya's got all the makings of being a bonafide exorcism expert. She knows exactly what demons are capable of – how they can scratch at the walls of a person's very soul, clawing deeper and deeper until there's nothing left of that person to speak of. She knows what angels are capable of too – how they proclaim to be the soldiers of God but they enjoy their tricks just as much as demons. She knows that they can live and she knows that they can die, just like any other living thing in the world.

It doesn't matter if they're not from this world – doesn't really matter if they're from up or below – half-breeds can die all the same.

She knows these things because she's seen them firsthand.

When she was ten, she witnessed her father die at the hands of a demon half-breed whose name she can't even remember anymore, a name she'd committed to memory by whispering it to herself every night until she was sixteen. That was when her brother Robb, her strong big brother, killed that demon, avenging their father's death. Only he died too. Their mother tried so desperately to convince them all that revenge wasn't the answer – that war would only bring them more death – but they hadn't listened. They had all been young and angry. They had been stupid and careless. They hadn't really known what they were doing.

So yeah, she's eighteen, out of high school, skirting around the concept of college – but it's hard to do normal things like that when you know what's crawling around in the corner of your eye, in the dark shadows that plague the whole world. It's hard when she sees things differently, when the person standing at the bus stop turns and for a second she can see what they truly are. It's hard when she gets dragged to some stupid sorority/fraternity college party by Sansa, her sweet older sister who only wants to best for her. It's hard when she goes to that party, tries to drink, but when a girl screams after getting tossed into the pool, all she can think about is the earth-shattering screams of the first exorcism she witnessed Robb perform on some tiny girl that couldn't protect herself.

It's hard when she knows so much more than everyone around her.

And it's so fucking hard to just smile and pretend to be a normal girl when she hears guys and girls joking around about demons, how they saw the new movie about demon hunters and how could anyone possibly believe in something ridiculous as that. How can she be expected to not slap some sense into them, to point out to them that their fucking ethics professor is actually a demon half-breed cultivating the young minds of the future? Sansa was a trooper, determined to live a normal life, but even she had to drop that class once she was informed. And when the professor showed up while they were eating lunch and acted so concerned and asked Sansa why she dropped, it was so fucking hard to hold back, to not snarl _I know how to send you away ten times over_ and just eat the sandwich her mother packed for her.

All she wants to do is help. She wants to rid the world of their corruption. It's not fair. They have their own world. Why do they have to infiltrate theirs as well? (All she wants is her father and brother back, but at least she knows they're in Heaven.) She knows things. She sees things. She's fully fucking capable of handling her own exorcism shit. She's done it before, under her half-brother Jon's watchful eye. He hadn't wanted her to do it, but she is persistent and stubborn if nothing else.

It was awful and exhilarating and brutal and terrifying all at once. She threw up in the alley behind the shoddy apartment complex afterwards and she wanted nothing more than to cry for days into Jon's black clergy shirt, but she wouldn't let herself do it.

Jon is better at this than Robb – he learned how to do things from the inside – but he never says so, never says that maybe he could have avenged their father and not died. Because he feels guilty. She knows that he thinks about it all the time – how he should have been at Robb's side instead of hiding behind his duties for the Church. _You can't go killing half-breeds even if they are corrupt; it destroys the balance._ And she can hear him cringe when he says things like that and she stomps away every time because she's pissed and upset and knows he's right. Why does he have to be right? This is their world. Fuck the balance. _It's not goddamn fair._

So this is Arya Stark, future exorcism professional. She's small and lithe, like a dancer, and she doesn't look like much at all. She cut her hair short after her father's death, but it's grown long and becomes a darker brown with every passing year. Her eyes are grey as flint and cut just as hard as well. All half-breeds like to laugh at her when they first see her because they don't know any better. And demons are certain that this is not the Arya Stark that has sent many a strong demon back to Hell because just look at her. She's just a little girl. But she's so much more than that and she knows it.

Sansa pleads with her to come back home, but she cannot stop herself from prowling the night, as if searching for danger to find her. Even her best friend, Gendry, has become wary, but he never says anything to deter her anymore. He knows it won't stop her. He knows she's not going to stop until every demon is gone and since that's not possible he knows she'll never stop.

The only problem?

John fucking Constantine won't give her the goddamn time of day and it is more than pissing her off.

See, she's sent demons back to Hell. And she's even sent a half-breed demon back as well. She's not some stupid amateur that only thinks they know what they're doing. She knows what she's doing. But she also knows that she'd know so much more if she learned a few tricks from the master. Anyone that performs exorcisms or lives in the shady grey area of all three worlds knows the name Constantine. He's like a shark, sniffing the blood of every demon the moment they dig their way into a new human victim. She wouldn't be doing her homework if she didn't want to get trained by him.

Of course he's pissed as hell that he can't escape her, can't get her off his back, and he's damn near ready to punch something after she's hounded and pestered him, demanding his help and training. He's absolutely infuriated that she somehow manages to find out where he lives and she doesn't show up all the time but at the most random of times when he's actually got a break and maybe that's what pisses him off even more. She knows when he's busy and she doesn't bother him then, out of respect, but he'd almost much rather she did that, she's sure. But she doesn't care about things like that. She just wants that bittersweet taste of revenge and she knows that he'll be able to help her.

Even worse is when she catches him at his favorite sandwich shop, almost innocently eating a turkey and cheese sandwich at the counter. She just pops up out of nowhere like a weed, suddenly sitting in the bar stool next to him, an absurdly intense and focused expression that is most certainly not on the faces of most eighteen year-old girls.

"I'm going to kill that bastard of a brother of yours for telling you about me," he grumbles.

He threatens to kill Jon every time he sees her, never hides the thought in his mind, though both of them know that he never truly would. He's not one for killing people, only demons. Plus, he knows that Jon only told his rough little sister about him as a precaution. _Don't get too caught up in this world or you'll end up like John Constantine._ It's true enough though. Everything that John touches seems to die. The few friends that he does have left are practically out of his reach, to the point where he's not sure if they even exist anymore, much less could still be considered actual friends. Jon is probably an exception, if only because the kid reminds him so painfully of Chaz, except unlike Chaz, Jon knows to keep his distance. Much like Chaz, Arya, who is also so much like Jon and Chaz, refuses wholeheartedly to let this go.

"If you don't help me," she says, "I could get myself hurt or killed. That's negligence on your part."

"And stupidity on yours," he responds. "And it's not my problem either."

"I'm not asking to spend every day with you," she tells him. "I just want some proper training, some honest experience."

"This isn't an honest job," he almost laughs.

Her frown is deeper than any river and she continues on as if he didn't say a word: "I'll leave you alone once we're done. I'll just go off on my own and you'll never hear from me again if I can help it."

"Go home, Arya," he says. "Go to college and go to parties and drink illegally and do homework and date stupid boys and get a shitty minimum wage job and just fucking live your life. This isn't what you want. You think it is, but it's not. You've had a taste of it and you think you know what you're asking, but you really don't. Trust me."

"I don't want to do any of those things," Arya grits out fiercely.

"No one wants to," Constantine admits, "but it's better than this life."

"I want to do this!"

He pushes the empty basket aside for the waitress to take away and finishes the coke he poured a bit of bourbon in. "Do you want to die? Because your brother Robb told me the same thing and he ended up exactly like I told him he would."

She doesn't say anything to that, just looks at him, all vicious like a wolf. He's sure her bite is just as hard as her bark, sure that she'd do well in his field of work, better than her brother. That's for sure. Jon has a knack for it, but he keeps his distance while his half brother jumped in headfirst.

"Live your life while you still can. Forget about what you can see and eventually it'll just fade away." Constantine stands up and throws a ten on the table. It's all he's got on him, but he's used to it. This job doesn't exactly pay very well. Arya is used to living a proper, well-paid for life, though she has probably roughed it more than most people out of sheer spite. "Besides, I'm not taking on an apprentice. It's too much work."

He leaves the restaurant and it's raining outside, hard, like it always seems to do in this damned city. He's stuck walking home, but he doesn't care. It's not like he has anyone to impress at home.

Arya follows him outside though. She stands in the rain, looking small and innocent, and shivering in the cold. Still, it doesn't deter her and she holds her ground the moment she bursts out the door. "What about a driver?" she shouts out after him.

And he would be damned a hundred times over if he didn't know that this stupid girl was going to make him cave eventually.

He changes his route to the church, so he can find her brother Jon and fucking kill him. Or get killed himself because Jon is going to be pissed the moment he realizes that his little sister Arya is going to learn how to become a professional at exorcising demons thanks to John Constantine.


End file.
